Christmas Decor

With Thanksgiving behind us, and several sub-freezing nights ahead of us, lots of folks around town have taken advantage of the mild temperatures and put up their holiday lights. A few rigs in the parks have donned Christmas decor, and we're following suit.

At least we're trying.

After years of knowing exactly where every decoration belonged and precisely how to hang every hanging thing, we're in new territory this holiday season. It hit me last night. Suddenly, I had an urge to hang lights. As had been our custom, a few days after Thanksgiving, I would string clear lights along the railing of our balcony overlooking the bay. That easy task marked the start of our holiday season. But last night there were no clear lights, no railing and no balcony. And, I missed it. Of course, it didn't help that we were watching the Hallmark Hall of Fame, complete with those Kleenex-robbing commercials I love. I've never been that much of a Christmas decorator, so I was surprised that missing this simple little tradition made me a bit weepy.

Today we were determined to launch a new tradition and outfit our rolling home in some holiday finery. We have a just a few Christmas things in storage, and we'll pick those up later this week. So, we headed out to but some of the essentials we were missing. We scored a two-foot tree and some battery-operated LED lights. A string of hanging snowflake lights looked like just the thing we needed to bring some sparkle to our imax windshield, so we brought those home, too. Not exactly sure how we'd hang these new-found lights, we picked up two packages of those nifty hooks that stick on and have a magic tab that you pull to remove without a trace.

Back home I happily went to work on hanging the snowflakes. I popped the magical hooks on a below the cabinets above the windshield. A quick look at the directions revealed the nifty hooks required an hour to "cure". (So much for making this a quick task!) After dinner, as I went about hanging the lights, half the hooks took a tumble. (Arggh!) Another look at the directions revealed that these hooks can't work their magic on vinyl. And, of course, I was trying to stick them on vinyl! Plan B became sticking the hooks on the metal curtain rail, and waiting another hour for those hooks to cure. As we headed for bed, the rehung lights had floored just two hooks. So, I'm giving two new hooks a chance to set overnight. We'll see how things look in the morning. Like I said, we're trying.

Here's to better luck decorating our two-foot tree!

Better Drivers

We spent the bulk of our "Black Friday" off the road. But, after spending just a few days in our ol' home town, we've noticed something.

We're better drivers than we used to be.

When we lived here, we each had a zippy sedan that we used mostly during commute hours. We changed lanes at a whim, raced up to stop signs, and foolishly tried to squeeze between bumpers to get on the highway.

Then, we moved to California.

There, driving in traffic became about survival of the fittest. We weren't defensive. We became aggressive. Whatever it would take to get around the other idiots on the road, we'd do it.

Then, we bought a motorhome.

There, in the beehive of insanity on the freeway, we learned how much longer it takes to accelerate - and stop - an 11-ton vehicle. Entrance ramps became something we planned for. Stop signs became something we rolled up to. Speed limit signs became something that we not only noticed but also obeyed. We gave truckers a wide berth, and were surprised to see that they - and only they - did the same. We learned that it can sometimes - actually, most times - takes two to drive this thing. One of us does the steering and braking. The other one is the Safety Director.

Early in our pre-fulltiming research we ran across a fulltiming couple that professed to one simple rule: The person in the passenger seat is the Safety Director. And, the Safety Director rules.

Before we ever hit the road, we talked about this idea. As two uber-skilled freeway sedan survivalists, it took a little getting used to. After all, we both knew how to drive. Heck, we'd survived rush hour on California freeways for nearly 10 years. We didn't need no Safety Director.

Then, in a flash of clarity, we adopted the process. The rule would be simple. Whoever was driving would do so as defensively as possible. After all, this is our house we're driving here, not a Miata. The driver's mission was to get ourselves, our cats and our possessions from point A to point B safely and in one piece. Nothing more. We'd leave real time on the road driving instructions to someone else. Aggressions would be worked out somewhere else. We would trust no one else on the road, except maybe the truckers. Defensive driving and safety were top priority, with the help of the Safety Director.

The Safety Director is whoever (or is that whomever?) is in the passenger seat. The Safety Director keeps both eyes open for all kinds of hazards, from low hanging branches to clueless cars merging on to the freeway with no clue that a 22,000 pound vehicle is right beside them. The Safety Director is also the navigator extraordinaire, checking the atlas and the iphone for real time traffic and adjusting the route as necessary. The Safety Director anticipates and announces necessary lane changes. The Safety Director is all about information. Opinion and advice and nagging are saved for another day.

This Driver and Safety Director arrangement has worked very well for us so far. When I'm the Driver, I listen to whatever the Safety Director says and do whatever he asks me to do. If I need to move a little to the left, I do. No questions asked. After all, he's not telling me how to drive. He's being the Safety Director. Likewise, when Paul is behind the wheel, and I'm Safety Director, I keep my comments to a minimum. My directions are clear and concise. And, he does whatever I say. We don't nag at each other. We're both playing important roles in the safety of our household.

Had we had this kind of dialogue with each other while we were maneuvering one of our sedans through rush hour freeway traffic, we might have driven each other nuts. But, when driving 50 feet of vehicles, there's something very comforting in hearing your Safety Director remind you that your lane ends in 1,000 feet, even if you already know it. And, it's soothing to be able to say from behind the wheel, "Is this our exit?" and have a calm, reassuring voice tell you "Yes, it is."

When you're driving your home down the highway, our recommendation is not to do so as husband and wife, or a couple of travel buddies. When you roll down the road as Driver and Safety Director chances are you'll arrive safely, in one piece, and your relationship still intact.

Happy Thanksgiving

The parade has been watched, football games tuned in and the big meal prepared, consumed and cleaned up after. Well, almost, anyway.

As we sit and digest we reflect back on last Thanksgiving, which was our first in our rolling home. There in the Southern California desert we prepared the same menu as we did this day and dreamed of fulltiming in the not too distant future. Today we're so fortunate to celebrate our first turkey day as fulltimers.

We have been counting our blessings this day. We are truly blessed to be able to pursue this lifestyle. We are so grateful for the changing views that we have the great pleasure to see through our "Imax" windshield. The opportunity to visit family and meet and reconnect with friends, old and new, is one of our most cherished blessings.

Last year we celebrated the pursuit of a dream. This year we are so blessed to be living it.

Special thanks this day to our fulltiming friends who have helped us through this transition. Some of you are out there on the road with us. Others of you have been there and done that. Still others are, as we were, eagerly looking forward to the day when you get to pull up jacks and hit the road. Your words of encouragement, inspiration and advice are appreciated so much. We only hope we can someday return the favor.

Our best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season. Safe travels! We look forward to seeing you down the road.

Home Again

It's our first morning after our return to our "home" park here in Merriam. Not much has changed around this place in the last seven weeks. The trees are bare and the thermometer has tumbled, but many of the same rigs and faces are here. While the place is still dumpy, it feels good to be back.

After making some serious tracks, we're relishing in the fact that we don't have to go anywhere this morning. Sure, there's a holiday grocery run on the agenda. But, it's to our favorite supermarket in the country. Even though it's sure to be crowded, it will be a treat. And, it's less than two miles away. For now, we're treating ourselves to hot coffee in front of our warm fireplace. My wool socks that I haven't worn in forever are super toasty. Yes, this is one of those mornings you wish would never end.

Coming back to Kansas City seems, so far anyway, to mark significant milestones in our fulltiming lifestyle. When we arrived in September, we celebrated the completion of our first leg. Today, we find ourselves reflecting on a successful second leg of our journey.

Seven weeks ago, we embarked on our trip to Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We never made it. Instead, we traveled in wind and rain across much of the South. We even dodged a tornado! We enjoyed some fine Southern cookin', and great times with family and friends. We caught up with Gypsy for the fourth time in a year, and met Dee and Jim for the first. (We came oooh so close to meeting Hembree, but we'll catch her next time!) Along the way we visited America's Castle, rescued a kitten, and had a window explode. We took a great big detour and said goodbye to our old moose and took delivery on a bigger, better replacement.

Now, we're home for the holidays. And, they won't be something we try to squeeze into our off work hours. We won't be standing in any airport security lines, either. No scheduled three hour flight that turns into five. Yes, for the first time in our adult lives, we're going to kick back, relax and really enjoy this special time of year.

We might just feel like kids again!

Making Tracks

We were delighted to finally pull out of Crossville this morning. After an early morning call to the Nashville Freightliner service facility, we learned that the earliest we could be serviced was "oh maybe sometime Monday." Because the repair needs to happen soon, but not immediately, we looked for other service options on our route. Paducah was a possibility. So was St. Louis. Columbia was another. And, it seems that our native Kansas City is a Freightliner hot bed, offering us a choice of three locations there.

With some viable service options down the road, we decided to make some serious tracks. We readied ourselves for a long travel day and hit the road. One of us kept nervous eyes on the air gauges for the first 100 miles or so, but the moose maintained adequate pressure all day. With its faulty air dryer bypassed, the Big Bull sounded like a rolling machine gun every time the air compressor kicked on. I had long since taken my eyes off the air gauges before I got used to that periodic rat-a-tat-tatt!

Our decision to rack up the miles put a real crimp in our social plans. We reluctantly decided to cancel our get together with the Hembree clan. We are sorry we couldn't make it work. But, we promise we will next time! It was still early afternoon when we arrived in Paducah, our first possible stopping point. With a well-behaved moose, good weather and plenty of energy, we kept going. As we crossed into Illinois, we considered our options. We decided to park here in south central Illinois, which leaves us just 350 miles to Kansas City. So, we're going to blow off another couple of friends were were planning to see in St. Louis. We really have some making up to do!

Tomorrow our goal is Worlds of Fun, the great park that sits next to the big coasters and just around the corner from Kansas City Freightliner. We'll spend Monday night there and get the moose in for service first thing Tuesday. With any luck we'll be parked in our home park in Kansas City later that afternoon. And, if not, we can easily load up the squirrel and camp with family.

While we were making tracks today, we passed through some beautiful country and places in these three states that we definitely want to come back to explore. And, those friends we passed by? We really, really hope you understand!

Going Nowhere

We've heard that the process of manufacturing a motorhome doesn't end at the factory. Nope, it happens on the road.

Ain't that the truth?

We were up and about early this morning, ready to head east and meet our friend Hembree for breakfast in Lebanon. Then, we were gettin' the heck out of Tennessee and overnighting in Paducah.

Well, that was the plan.

We got ourselves up and dressed and packed the big moose for travel. At just after 8, we fired up all 400 horses and were ready to roll. When the not so friendly brake warning light and buzzer wouldn't silence, we looked at the air pressure gauges. We didn't have enough air pressure to release the parking brake. We may be newbies at this diesel game, but we're pretty quick. We were going nowhere.

A phone call to our chassis manufacturer was our next move. The friendly, helpful Freightliner man asked if we heard any air leaks. From inside? No. We checked outside. Oh yeah! Paul crawled under Big Bull's belly and reported back. The preliminary diagnosis: a valve was shot on our air dryer.

We're 100 miles away from a Freightliner repair facility, so the man from Gaffney, SC, gave us the names of three local roadside repair companies. The first wouldn't take checks or credit cards from "out-of-towners". (Um. We've only been here in Crossville for a few days, but our guess is that most of the folks who need truck repair in these parts are out-of-towners.) So, we passed on them and dialed the second. He said he'd be here in two hours.

At least three hours later, Stan the truck repair man arrived. He quickly diagnosed the problem: a faulty pop off valve on the air dryer. He had the part and made a rapid replacement. We fired up the moose and the pressure built up quickly. We would soon be on the road again! But, first we had to pay the man. And, as must be the custom here in Crossville, he didn't take checks or credit cards either. So, we pointed the Jeep at the nearest ATM, emptied it out and paid off Stan the man.

It didn't take long to get the squirrel hooked to the moose. We were definitely ready to hit the road! We fired the Big Bull up and the air pressure was up to par in a moment. As we pulled out of the RV park, we heard the now familiar hiss of an air leak. By the time we were a quarter of a mile down the road we knew we were in trouble.

(Insert expletive here.)

We pulled off into a small parking lot and placed a quick call to Stan. In a little under an hour he was back at our side. The problem wasn't the valve. It's the dryer. So, Stan replaced the original valve and started surgery. The process: An air dryer bypass. Just as the man at the Freightliner help desk had advised, an air dryer is an important though not essential element of a truck chassis. About 30 minutes later the bypass was complete. Bullwinkle fired up and had the pressure he needed to get rolling. But, by now it was time to be coming off the road. We opted to turn around, return to our campground and save our travel for tomorrow.

The Big Bull is patched, not repaired. So, we need to get ourselves to a Freightliner facility ASAP. There's one about 100 miles down the road in Nashville. And, the good news is they are open on Sunday. So, provided we have pressure, we'll hit the road early and get everything taken care of.

As we sit here in the same site at the same park we left earlier today we are very thankful. If you're going to lose air pressure, this is the place. We weren't on an interstate, which would have been much, much worse. As we were waiting for help we were as we are now -- safe, warm and comfortable. We don't have to be at work tomorrow, the next day or any day after that. We're 700 miles away from a date with a turkey. That's all. And, we'll get there - eventually. No worries.

Meanwhile, our fingers are crossed that the construction of our motorhome is just about complete. Here's hoping this is the last bug we need to work out, for awhile anyway.

Sirius-ly

One of the things we had yet to get around to setting up in the new moose was our satellite radio system. After all, it looked just like the setup in the old moose. So, we saved it as a "to-do" for the road. Now that we're finally parked for a couple of days, today was the day get the job done. I readied myself for the five-minute task.

I powered up the radio and waited for the Sirius screen to give me the number I needed to activate the new receiver. And, I waited. It never came. I dialed up Sirius, asked for help and was told they could work their magic from their end. All they needed was the VIN. I passed along Big Bull's unique number, but Sirius didn't recognize it. They told me to call the dealer. I called and left a message for our salesman. He called back, assured me everything was all wired to go, and asked me to call Winnebago service and they would walk me through the process. I called Winnebago service and talked to someone who apparently was no more familiar with this radio than I am, except he was a lot more irritating. He seemed put off by my call.

Seriously! Can I tell you how much I wanted to shout into the phone, "Do you know that it's people like us who give you a job?" But, instead I railed on about how this appeared to be yet another problem with our faulty entertainment system, which should have been checked out at the factory.

He said nothing.

Just in case any Winnebagoans pass by these parts, that was the exact moment we lost confidence in their product. Heck, if they can't wire TVs and radios at the factory, what else did they screw up? Plus, if every time we call Customer Service we get a non-expert who is inconvenienced by our call, what kind of horrible mistake of a major purchase have we just made?

As I tried to incorporate a visit to a dealership into our itinerary, Paul called and announced our displeasure to our salesman's voice mailbox. Minutes later we got a call from a regional Winnebago representative. He was most apologetic and seemed eager to resolve our problem. Before they wrapped their call, Paul caught something in what the guy said: "The Tour is all wired. It should just plug and play."

Did he say "plug and play"? We'd seen a box somewhere in this coach labeled "Sirius Plug and Play". During our walk-through we discovered it in a cabinet and were told it would enable us to use Sirius in our car, so we stashed it back in the cabinet to deal with much later. After Paul hung up, we found and opened the box. Inside was a small tuner and a dock. This wasn't just for our car. It was for the RV, too! We went searching for a place to plug this thing in. Inside a cabinet we found the docking station we thought was for the optional GPS unit. Paul placed the tuner in the docking station and it fit like a glove. The screen on the little tuner lit up. I turned on the radio and asked it for the activation number and it served it right up. I called Sirius and within minutes our radio was up and running.

We were embarrassed that we were trying to receive with a receiver-less radio, and that we actually did have everything on board to make it work. That said, this radio looks just like - and has the same instructions - as our old one. So, that's what we expected. Little did we know this box that was presented as a car accessory in our walk-through was the brains to the whole operation! And, I'm sorry. The guy in Forest City had our VIN. He, of all people, should know about our setup and how it works.

It took us half the day to get this job done. Now, we had some cleaning up to do.

Before we could start dialing out to close the loop with the helpful people at Winnebago, a call came in. The regional guy had called a big service guy in Forest City and instructed him to call us. Imagine his surprise when he dialed up these frustrated customers and heard, "Uh, we worked it out." We apologized for any user error on our part, but the service big wig took responsibility. He explained that this feature is new, and that Winnebago needs to do a better job of explaining it to dealers, and - unfortunately - the customer service reps in Forest City. He went on to say we should not have been left to figure this out on our own.

Good point.

We looped back with the regional guy and thanked him for his help. He, in turn offered to save us another call and promised to get back to our sales rep. We were very impressed by the responsiveness of our rep, the regional guy and the service big wig. Everyone involved learned something today about a little feature called plug and play, except that customer service rep. We have a feeling his learning may come later.

So, as I celebrate another successful trip around the sun, we're enjoying tunes in our new home. And, just in case any passing Winnebagoans have made it this far in this lengthy post, there's good news for you, too.

Our confidence has been restored.